Transport & Connectivity

Independent candidates standing as Change for Bridgend are committed to making BCBC the leading unitary authority for Transport in Wales.

This will be achieved through our four key themes of Connectivity, Safety & Accessibility, Repair & Renewal, Streetworks.

We will strive to ensure that our streets are safe and accessible for all, well maintained and free from unnecessary roadworks. We will challenge our contractors to deliver the highest standards and value for money.

We will champion all communities making sure that no part of our county borough is left behind.

Connectivity

Connectivity is the key to a thriving community and a vibrant economy. Communities within our borough are not well connected, with poor or non-existent public transport or pedestrian links to borough hubs or community resources.

No community within our County Borough should be isolated.

We will challenge officers to develop an integrated transport strategy that clearly sets out how we will connect ALL communities within our borough and to Wales and the world beyond taking full advantage of our proximity to the M4, South Wales Mainline and Cardiff Airport.

Whilst we welcome the South Wales Metro we are concerned that investment and early works will favour Cardiff and those areas closest to it. We will lobby the Welsh Government hard to review the plans to make sure that ALL communities within our County Borough benefit from this once in a generation opportunity.

We will work with businesses and other partners to facilitate better public transport links to ensure that all residents and communities are connected at a fair price.

Safety & Accessibility

Our roads and streets leave a lot to be desired with insufficient provision for pedestrians, cyclists, those with limited mobility or partial sight. Many of our communities are also used as rat runs and blighted by speeding traffic. Some of our streets are poorly lit and our hedgerows are overgrown resulting in a reluctance to walk in the evenings and a fear of crime.

We will ensure that safety and accessibility are a cornerstone of our highway repair & renewal programme. We will strive to bring our streets up to standard so that everyone can walk or cycle with confidence.

Where appropriate we will work with Town & Community councils and other partners to support them in developing local access plans.

Repair & Renewal

The condition of our streets says a lot about our council. We will challenge our officers and contractors to reduce reactive & planned maintenance backlogs.

A rolling repair & renewal programme will be developed in consultation with residents and town & community councils. The programme and progress against it will be shared with residents.

Many of our communities are blighted by poorly maintained public roads and tracks that for various reasons have been not been adopted by BCBC. These may be long standing issues or, as is increasingly the case in our expanding borough, where new developments are incomplete for prolonged periods. We will no longer wash our hands of these areas. We will seek every option to challenge developers and landowners to maintain these roads to adoptable standard, expedite adoption where appropriate or investigate BCBC’s powers to step in and maintain at the landowner’s expense.

Underperforming contractors will not be tolerated.

Streetworks

We will reduce disruption and improve streetworks co-ordination. Develop means to allow residents to have a more active role in identifying problem streetworks.

Use the full range of powers available to ensure that utility companies reduce disruption in our streets and make sure that they properly reinstate their works. Lobby for additional powers such as Permit schemes if necessary.

Ensure that BCBC streetworks are completed to a high quality and that contractors are held to account for their deficiencies.